


La rouge et la noire

by paranomastic



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-31
Updated: 2015-10-09
Packaged: 2018-04-18 06:47:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4696175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paranomastic/pseuds/paranomastic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Once upon a time, in the village of Patch on the edge of a far-off kingdom, a girl named Ruby Rose followed her sister into the woods, where they came upon a castle inhabited by a terrible Beast and her magic. That was the beginning of things.</p>
<p>(Ladybug Beauty and the Beast-ish AU, draws heavily enough on Cocteau's '46 adaptation in terms of visual details that yes I really need to credit it here)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Rose for a rose

Once upon a time on the very edge of a kingdom far away, there was a small island, mostly forested, and on that island at the edge of the wood stood the village of Patch. And in the village of Patch, at the edge of that selfsame wood stood the home of Taiyang Xiao Long and his daughters Yang Xiao Long and Ruby Rose, as well as the former’s wife. 

Taiyang was a teacher, and though occasionally he traveled outside of town he stayed in most days, leaving the going out to Yang. Yang had a habit of traveling not just around the island but also into the kingdom, and when she would return from her longer sojourns she would tell Ruby all about the places she had been and the people she had met. And, occasionally, the daughters of famous rich men she had ended up marrying. Okay, that was just the once, but Weiss eventually proved a perfectly serviceable second sister and Ruby had eventually grown fond of her. It was a while before she was really used to life in Patch, but Weiss always insisted she preferred living in the village to the life she had led before meeting Yang.

Then there was Ruby herself, the youngest, who because of in large part her age and in very small part her uncanny resemblance to her dearly departed mother was strictly kept within the village limits at Taiyang’s instruction. This meant that, when Ruby eventually started to long for a taste of the world outside she heard so much about from her dear sister, she turned to books instead. She would check out piles of books at a time, especially fairy tales, and take them out to a field near the edge of the wood to read them, watching as merchants and others traveled into the woods to travel to Patch’s sister village across the island. Sometimes she would pick up a stick and pretend it was a sword, stabbing and slashing at imaginary Beowolves as the heroes of the stories did. Not that she ever really thought that Beowolves or Ursae were real, of course, she had a more level head than that, but pretending was comforting, a reminder how much lay outside of the village that someday she would be able to see.

One day as Ruby sat in that field, looking out at the entrance to the woods, she saw Yang pass down the way. “Well,” she said to herself, “If I’m with Yang I’m technically safe, right? Even if she doesn’t know I’m there.” She would just follow Yang for a little while, then turn back after a little while if her sister was heading all the way out to the other side of the woods. Truly it was, she thought, the perfect plan.

And so, taking care to stack most of her books in the hollow of a nearby tree where she could easily fetch them later and packing one collection of tales away for the road just in case, Ruby followed her sister into the woods, pressing her red cloak tight around her to keep it from making noise as she jogged down the tight dirt path after Yang.

The canopy of the forest was thick over her, branches of the trees tangled tight enough to keep nearly all sunlight from reaching the ground. The path wound through the wood, turning and twisting in seemingly-impossible ways as it went but never branching or diverting. And one point it ran alongside a stream, but even without turning it eventually parted from it somehow.

Before long it occurred to Ruby just how long she had been following Yang through the forest, and how if she headed back now she was likely to run into someone from the village who would be less likely to keep her time away from Patch secret. So it was after Yang she kept, careful to stay a bend in the path behind her at all times. Which was easy enough, given Ruby had always been the fast one in the family.

But Yang eventually started acting curiously, as though she too was unsure where they were, looking around and frowning occasionally but not turning back. At the same time a light fog started to rise around them in the forest, starting in coils and puffs around their ankles but slowly rising until the whole world hung in its haze. Ruby found herself drawn closer and closer to keep Yang in her sights.

Then, above the trees ahead, Ruby could make out the fleeting shadows of castle parapets. The path, she knew from all she had heard of it, did not lead to a castle. It led to a town, out across the hills and on the other side of the island directly from Patch. But as Yang passed through the last trees before this castle, and as Ruby did after her, a moment’s pause was necessary to confirm that the grandiose structure ahead of them did in fact exist.

The castle stood massive and impossible in structure to Ruby’s eyes, spires and walls pressed close around the central building in labyrinthine rows, stone piled high and irregular upon one another to the sky weathered by time and coated in light patches of dried dead foliage. Most notable, though, was that the whole structure climbed as high and gathered itself together as dense with only a single window, perched at the top of the highest tower and illuminated by brief flickers of candlelight underneath the overcast sky.

Curious, it had been cloudless and sunny as far as Ruby could see before she pursued Yang.

There was also no fog about the place, so Ruby was forced to hold back at the edge of the forest until Yang had reached the front door and entered. Then she followed, quick as she dared, slipping through the gap in the thick-as-trees door left when Yang opened it to head in herself. In fact, the door itself seemed to be made of trees, or at least the trunks thereof. Willow trees, she recognized because one grew near the stream where her family went to gather their water, and also a thick curtain of willow branches hung swaying and somehow alive gathered behind the door.

Ruby passed through the curtain as Yang passed around a corner in the distance, but the hall itself caught her attention first. A thin glaze of smoke hung in the air, gathered through the hall obscuring the walls going down, and from the walls every three feet was grasped a candelabra. “Grasped” was truly the appropriate word – each was attacked to the wall not by bolts or steel but by silvered human arms all identical but moving, leaning the candles in towards Ruby as she began to walk down towards where Yang had vanished.

 _I should probably get out of here_ , Ruby thought to herself as she took further steps deeper into the castle, _this is probably a terrible idea_.

Probably. But Yang was here too, and she had to get her out of here by whatever means were necessary. Maybe she was under the effect of some spell. Maybe Ruby was, too! She said, as though spells existed. As though real life were capable of being a fairy tale. Ruby had chased through fields to find fairies enough to know they did not exist, and yet here she was in a castle that could not exist on the road she had traveled upon to reach it, staring down a hall of arms holding candles that were not human arms, could not be human arms, yet moved just as such and carried themselves with an uncanny blind intelligence.

If reality as she had known it to this point carried no more meaning, she was either doomed anyway or just as capable as anyone to help get Yang out of here. If she could get out of here herself. So Ruby continued down the hallway, step by shaky step, breath growing faster and harsher as she continued down towards the bend. What waited around it? For the first time she could remember, Ruby was heading somewhere unknown. To a bend she could not reasonably predict what hid behind.

Once she peeked around it, holding tight against the wall of the corner from which the arms obligingly shifted to let her in, keeping the candles far from her cloak, she saw down another hall a room with a single table of food and a towering fireplace looming gothic over it. The table was set with an excessive amount of food, and the only blemish to the scene was a missing chicken leg. Ah yes, Yang had been here. The hand apparently growing out of the table did not seem to mind the absence, absentmindedly buttering a piece of toast that it offered to Ruby as she passed.

“Are you sure?” Ruby asked, not quite registering that the arm had no ears to speak of. Who knew, it probably could still hear her.

And indeed it seemed able to, though not to speak. It pressed the corner of the toast against her arm, and Ruby took it. If the arm insisted, she supposed.

It occurred to Ruby only when she saw a door leading outside on the other end of the dining room, and a handful of still-living plants that laid out in that courtyard, how distinctly and overwhelmingly grey the castle was. The arms, the walls, the table, even the food was all cast in such a light that it looked absent of color. Even the food was grey-to-black, though somehow she had not questioned it until it was already in her mouth. And indeed the toast was not ashen in taste – it was toast with butter, as she had ever had it in the mornings before school or in late nights rereading fables by lamplight. And her cloak was still red, and the hand that held the bread still the fleshy color it had ever been. Ruby was the only color in the halls beyond the willow shroud at the entrance.

As she passed into that courtyard, she realized that the toast did indeed take back upon itself the proper color that toast should be, browned across its surface with the oily sheen of melted butter across the pocks and cracks. And the moment of shock that followed nearly brought the possibility of detection by Yang forward before she tucked the toast into her mouth and ducked behind a massive statue of some kind of stag, peeking out to watch what exactly Yang was doing.

Yang, having admittedly even in Ruby’s mind never been a paragon of wisdom, was reaching up to pluck a rose from a bush. “Hey,” she said, “Ruby’ll love one of these. Don’t mind if I do, weird castle owner. Plenty of flowers on the bush.”

Ruby had seen actual roses once, years before, on the day of her mother’s funeral. Her relatives from out in the kingdom had brought many when they laid Summer into the ground, surrounding the casket and the headstone and remaining for days until they withered and finally died. Or, as it was with flowers, had not been alive at all since they had arrived. Had Yang arrived home with a rose and Ruby herself not been here to see its source, she knew just how incredible she would have found it. The disparity stung at her like a wasp.

“Like it, huh?” Came a low voice ringing through the courtyard from the doorway, greyscale outline shining from the darkness.

The temperature of the air dropped then, degrees falling down and down until Ruby had to hug her cloak tight against herself.

“Huh?” Yang looked over, “Oh, hey. You own this place?”

“You could say that.” And as the figure stepped into the yard, the grey of the interior spread out slowly, tendrils of neutrality spreading across the floor and merging the dirt with the flagstones it encased. But that was not the immediate focus of attention. Instead, the shadows almost reluctantly slipped away from the figure and it – she, maybe, judging by growling voice alone – strode forward step by stalking step.

The Beast – for that was what she was – stood a head taller than Ruby, and was at least human in general shape. Two arms and two legs, one head, and one torso. Yet that head was more like that of a jungle cat than a person, thick black fur running out and framing a face of grey lips and eyes – or at least what little Ruby could see of the Beast’s eyes beneath the white-and-grey mask covering them that ran to the top of her forehead. 

The fur extended over the Beast’s whole body, or at least to her half-hand half-paws, framing razor-pointed claws. But unlike a lower-case-b beast, the Beast was dressed. In royal clothes, curiously enough, long coat sleeves down to the wrists with the white of a shirt emerging tattered and dirty lace underneath, and pants and boots below the belt. The clothes were bulky, thick and old, and looked straight out of a theater production long before they looked like the clothing of a person. And they too, like the Beast herself, were cold and grey even in the stains, tears, and broken remnants of pins and medals.

“Whoah.” Yang remarked, looking the Beast up and down, blinking a few times in shock as she held the rose in her hand.

“Whoah.” The Beast sneered, “Not the one you were expecting to see here, I take it.” 

“Uh… no,” Yang admitted, “Not really.”

The Beast laughed harsh and low, proud shoulders dropping to a crouch to approach the trespasser, “Unfortunately for you, I own this place. Which means I get to choose your punishment for stealing from me.”

“Whoah, slow down there, kitty cat, I’m not-“

“You’re a thief. You stole from me, so you’re a thief.” The Beast explained, still walking forward.

Yang set the rose down at the base of the bush, “Then I won’t. No harm no foul, okay? Don’t… kill me, or whatever.”

“Kill you? Who said I would kill you?” The Beast paused in her approach, edge of her mouth curling upwards. “I didn’t say what your punishment would be, yet.”

“Still with the punishment thing, huh? Ha… okay…”

“I have a dungeon, two stories right below you. You’re never going to see anything else ever again.”

 _No._ Ruby thought to herself, stifling a gasp. Without Yang at home both Weiss and her father would be crushed, and leaving Yang to suffer like this would make it her fault too. She was not about to let herself be responsible for Yang’s fate.

“Over a _flower_? Look, I’d love to help you scratch whatever weird itch you’re having, but I’m kinda married, so… Gonna have to say no on going to your dungeon. Sorry.” Yang backed away, eyes locked with the Beast’s.

“It’s not that kind of-“ the Beast exclaimed, eyes widening under the mask for a moment before settling back into the glare that seemed her standard expression. “Anything else in the castle grounds I would have let you have. Anything but one of those roses.”

“What if I say no and run away? I could totally still do that, you know.” Yang put up her fists, “Or we could fight. I’m down with that.”

The Beast paused at that, staring. “I have claws. You have fists. It’s going to go poorly for you.”

“Aw, c’mon. You’re just scared, don’t act like-“ Yang started, but the Beast lunged forward and raked her claws across Yang’s shoulder, sending her staggering back clutching at the wound. 

Ruby watched in horror as the blood welled up under the remains of Yang’s jacket, then took a final shaking breath to steady herself before stepping out from behind the statue to speak, toast set down and immediately forgotten. If there was one thing she had learned from the heroes of her books it was that this was what a hero would do.

“Stop!” she yelled, fingers curled into half-fists at the end of rigid arms held out to either side of her.

Yang jerked her attention over to her, eyes wide. “Ruby? Ruby, get out of here!”

When the Beast turned towards Ruby, though, a strange expression passed across her countenance. Eyes widened in shock, lips parted slightly, and Ruby could swear the briefest flash of gold passed beneath the mask, before she stood again erect and composed. “You have no business here.”

Ruby shook her head against both protests, “Yang can’t stay with you. She has a wife and dad to worry about!”

“Either she stays or she dies.” The Beast explained, gesturing towards Yang, “You can pick which, if you want.”

Ruby, much to the Beast’s probable annoyance, stood her ground. “Why?”

“What?”

“Ruby, just get out of here! I’ll be okay!”

“No, Yang!” Ruby looked the Beast square in the mask, silver eyes blazing, “Why can’t you let her go?”

The Beast growled, casting her gaze away at the rosebush. “There are rules, okay? Something is stolen, someone has to pay for the crime.”

“That’s the rule? They have to pay?” Ruby asked, swallowing hard.

The Beast nodded.

If Yang never came home, through death or through life in the castle dungeon, father would be devastated and Weiss heartbroken. Ruby would never be able to forgive herself, and there would be no hope of ever seeing her again. She could not let that happen if she could help it, and it occurred to Ruby then exactly how she could. It would not be easy for anyone, but in the end it left more people happier than the alternative. Even if that difference was just Weiss’ happiness.

“I’ll stay instead.” Ruby looked up at the Beast, “Let Yang go and I’ll stay here with you. In your dungeon or wherever.” 

“Ruby…”

“She is the criminal here,” the Beast replied, the barest hint of amusement picking at the edges of her tone, “I can’t just give you her punishment. That’s not how it works.”

Ruby shook her head, “That’s not what I’m asking. I’m offering you a trade.”

“Ruby, no!” Yang tried to run towards her sister, but the Beast flicked a hand in a curiously casual gesture and the older girl found herself suddenly tangled in the vines of the garden that had grown up around her, thorns jutting out around her just close enough to touch but not sinking into skin. A hundred small daggers to keep her in place.

“Explain.” Ordered the Beast.

“Those roses are important to you, right? They mean more to you than anything?”

“More than you could possibly know.”

“Then let her take yours, and you can take hers.” Ruby blinked hard to hold back tears, but no hesitation dared enter her voice. “My name is Ruby Rose, and I’m her sister. I’m just as important to her as those are to you. And you can have me.”

If her life had become a fairy tale, Ruby supposed, the roles of it were at least familiar. She knew how story magic worked, the importance of names and clever solutions and coming to understand the monstrous things in the world. That was how it worked with beasts and fairies and spells, or at least all she knew of how they worked. And the worst her offer faced was rejection. 

“Ruby, you can’t-“ the purple of Yang’s eyes wavered slightly as the salt of tears rose in them, “Just go home, Ruby. _Please_.”

“Hm. I suppose…”

“Don’t you _dare_ , you ugly cat-thing.” Yang started to struggle against the vines, writhing though the thorns began to dig into her, “Leave her alone, she’s just a _kid_ , she’s _seventeen_ , you can’t-”

“Yang.” Ruby looked over at her across the courtyard, mouth extended on either side in a slight smile and eyes bright with tears. “Don’t. It’s okay.”

“Okay? Ruby, this is the actual opposite of okay!”

All of this, thankfully, finally convinced the Beast that Ruby was not lying when she said she was important to Yang, and she nodded, “Alright. I accept your terms.” She walked over to pick up the discarded rose below the bush, holding it out to Yang as the vines relaxed their thorny hold.

“If you think I’m just going to take that and go-“

“Yang, please.” Ruby interrupted, “Just do it, okay? For me.”

The vines set Yang on the ground, and she snatched the rose away from the Beast with a sneer, the creature entirely unresponsive behind her mask.

“Leave through the front and you’ll be back home within the hour.” The Beast explained, stepping aside to extend an arm towards the door back inside.

Yang swallowed, gripping the rose so hard that drops of blood started to wind down the stem in echo of the trails on her face, “I’m coming back for you, Ruby. I’m going to come back and if this _thing_ hurts you I’m going to hurt her back twice as hard. I promise.”

Ruby ran forward and threw her arms tight around Yang, face against her chest. “Say goodbye to Weiss for me, okay? And… tell dad I’m sorry.”

Stronger arms wrapped around Ruby in return, undeterred by her wounds. “You’re not the sorry one here, Ruby. Stay safe, I’ll get you back home as soon as I can.”

Ruby nodded, “Mmhm. Oh, and uh. I have a bunch of library books out in the field by the forest path, could you, uh…”

A single beat of a chuckle escaped Yang. “I’ll take them back, just in case you’re not quite home in time to turn them in yourself. Don’t want to welcome you home with library fines.”

“Okay.” Ruby and Yang squeezed into the hug one last time then separated, eyes stained with tears but the hope and love in their chests too bright not to smile. The future was brighter than the languid greys of this monochrome world could hope to be, and both of them believed in it. There would be a happily ever after at the end of the tunnel, and even as she left Yang was planning how to make it happen. And as Ruby watched her go, she had faith that whether or not Yang returned, she had made the right choice. Between Weiss and their father she would not be alone, and life would, eventually, go on back home in Patch. Even if she herself would never see them again, not the golden shimmer of the fields or the glow of the hearth at home or the way her father’s eyes sparkled somehow sadly when he told Ruby how much like her mother she had become when he was not looking.

It would be a year before Ruby saw Yang again in person, and by the time they met again much would have changed in Ruby. But she could not have known that then, standing alone with the Beast in the courtyard, a blotch of bright red on the grey expanse, rippling slightly with the cold air of a breeze.


	2. Down doors and hallways

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ruby explores her new home, and starts finding questions to ask about it and her host.

The yellow-gold of Yang left down the hallway, and the Beast turned towards Ruby, fog beginning to lap around the soles of her shoes hungry like impermanent fangs. Her expression was cold, neutral, caught in the web betwixt all recognizable emotions so tightly that not a one showed. 

“That was brave of you.” The Beast noted, breaking the intimidation of her gaze with the amused hint of a smile that played across her mouth.

Ruby focused intently on her own feet, the fog passing over them as it gathered over towards the Beast. “It was what I had to do.”

The Beast shook her head, slow and steady to keep her mane in place. “No, it wasn’t. Trust me.”

“Yeah, well… it doesn’t really matter now, does it?” Ruby looked up at the Beast, barest signs of shaking resolve in the glimmer of her eyes, “You. Own me. Or whatever.”

The Beast strode across to Ruby, fog following close behind flowing over the cobblestones, until she stood right before her, mask blank as stones. “I own you. Right.” She brought a hand-paw up to cup Ruby’s chin, tilting it from side to side, then tilted her own head to the side when Ruby’s lips pressed hard together with her tongue held firmly between teeth instead of the standard look of fear and discomfort expected.

“Sorry, I just…” Ruby blushed, somehow embarrassed about not being scared, apparently, “Your fur kinda tickles.”

The Beast blinked below her mask, then drew her hand and gaze away, wondering just how low Ruby’s sense of self-preservation was, “I’ll try not to do it again.”

“I mean, I can’t exactly stop you, but…” Ruby cleared her throat, nervous edge returning to her tone, “Part of the whole being owned thing, I guess. Just another rose in the garden! Ha.”

“Well, luckily for you,” the Beast let out a grumbling half-laugh, “I take good care of my roses.” She turned on a heel, towards the door back inside, fog scattering away from her to slither back out to the edges of the courtyard and over the walls. “Follow me, I’ll show you around. Since you’re going to be here for a while.”

A while. Right. Such a cute small way to talk about the rest of her life. Ruby thought of herself still here in decades, treading down hallways of arms still no more familiar to her than the first time she had passed through the willow-branch curtain. Of the Beast still prowling quiet as a jungle cat must tread if her books were to be believed (Ruby had never seen a jungle cat in person, you see), long steps through endless castle corridors, and this courtyard just the same with the roses gazing out through it all. A life held, ideally, a lot of years within it, and those years many months, days, weeks. It was a long sentence, but while Ruby was more than a little sad to be facing it she certainly did not regret taking this over the alternative.

She hesitated for a moment, though, at the threshold back inside, before following the Beast any further. “Uh, question.”

“Yes?” The Beast turned towards her, standing next to the kitchen table, the hand in the middle apparently taking a rest from food preparation duties by her.

“Do you… have a name?” Ruby looked around the room everywhere that was not the Beast, “I mean, I should call you something.”

The Beast smirked, “I do have a name, yes. What you call me doesn’t matter much to me, though.” With that she turned down into another corridor off to the side, away to the left from the one Ruby and Yang had entered through.

Oh, so that was how she was going to play it? “You know what I meant!”

“I know what you meant, but it wasn’t the question you asked.” She walked down the hall, white gossamer curtains blowing in through windows that led out to… nowhere. Brick wall, incapable of generating wind. Or so Ruby would have assumed.

Ruby turned her attention back to the Beast and her response. “Ugh, not fair.”

“Not a lot of things are.”

Not inaccurate, Ruby supposed, but still. It was just a name, right? But with how adeptly the Beast had dodged the question, maybe it was a sticking point for her. “Names have power” and all that. Ruby really hoped the Beast would trust her with her name eventually, though – there was little a girl from a small village raised on fairy tales and stories of things her sister had seen could really do with a person’s name. Magic was something that came to the worldly – she had only run into it herself by choosing to follow someone else in. Ruby was far from being able to do anything with it, just to have it done to her. And she had trusted the Beast with her name!

“You can go wherever you want in the castle,” the Beast explained as they walked down another corridor, this one full of the irregular blots of right reflecting off a ceiling coated in glass shards hung by strings, “Except for the central tower. Only I can go up there.”

“What’s in the central tower?” Ruby asked, gazing around at the glimmering decorations above, mouth open slightly in wonder.

“Nothing impressive, don’t worry. Just my study and a couple storage rooms. It’s just the rules.” The Beast reached the end of the glass hallway and stopped at a surprisingly normal-looking door, painted some number of colors Ruby could not see through the monochrome, “Anyway, your room is through here.”

Ruby reached out to the door, but before she even reached the handle it turned and the whole thing swung open before her into the room beyond. Ruby took a breath and stepped in to look around, finding that it was very unlike a dungeon indeed.

The bed alone took up a great deal of the room, massive and cloaked in opulent sheets and curtains in many shades of grey and white. The doors of a closet laid to its right, and an opening leading to a tiled washroom to its left. The walls rose high to an arched ceiling, all almost-but-not-quite white, with framed paintings of disjointed shifting landscapes adorning the three walls unblocked by bed. Above the bed hung the largest painting in the room – a patch of some kind of plant with dark berries around the sprout of some single flower just starting to break into what looked like a bud. A strange sort of thing to make into a painting, Ruby supposed, but maybe it had some meaning to the Beast. And on one wall, away from everything else in the room, there stood a great old mirror, patiently reflecting most of the room. Perfectly normal by all appearances in a room that, to a girl from a small village, was anything but normal otherwise.

“Do you like it?” The Beast asked, having hung back by the door as Ruby walked in to explore.

“It’s… awesome.” Ruby replied, walking around the bed to the washroom. There was a bath as big as the whole washroom at home, and all manner of other luxuries besides around the rim and the room itself. The floor was porcelain tile, and the walls were actually mirrors, casting the room again and again infinite out in all directions. It… honestly made her a little dizzy, but just as she thought that all the walls but the one she was looking at faded out into darkness. “Uh… the walls just did a weird thing.” she pointed out, taking a step back in shock.

The Beast, still not in the room, spoke up from outside, “The castle will take care of you so long as you are here. It does what you need it to do, most of the time.”

Ruby frowned, poking her head out of the washroom archway to look over at the Beast. “Most of the time?”

“It won’t let you out. Not for long, anyway.”

“Well I did kinda expect to be stuck inside,” Ruby admitted, shrugging as she emerged back into the bedroom proper. She focused on the bedsheets, willing them to move away as though to allow her in, and found them more than willing to oblige. Fun! She could will the lights on and off to keep herself entertained for at least a few minutes when things became truly desperate.

“There are castle grounds you can explore if you like,” the Beast maintained her watch from the hallway, “Out back. I don’t head out there much, but you can go out to the edge of the woods if you like.”

“What happens if I try to go into the woods?”

The Beast shrugged, “Try it and see.”

“Okay, I guess…” Ruby trailed off, then stood up ramrod-straight as she realized something, “Wait, if it’s just your study up in the central tower… a-are we sharing a room?” _And the bed?_ She had, admittedly, consented to the Beast’s ownership, but this kind of thing had really not figured into that choice. She probably _should_ have expected it, she supposed, but…

The Beast stepped back, distant demeanor again breaking as she held her hands up in opposition, “No, no, of course not.” She coughed, regaining her composure before continuing, “I don’t sleep.”

“What?” Ruby asked, looking the Beast up and down, “Really?” Her concern needed somewhere to go, apparently, and this was where it had chosen to travel.

“I don’t sleep or eat or drink unless I want to.” the Beast busied herself scratching away at something small on a nearby wall, “I don’t need to.”

“Rules?” Ruby guessed, though she knew it was not traditional of rules to allow for things instead of forbid them.

The Beast looked back towards her and nodded, “The rules.” She smiled a little, in a monstrous way, “Though those rules also say I have to accompany you during meals.”

“There are rules about me?” Ruby raised an eyebrow, not looking away from her current position exploring the closet. Lots of dresses, ick. Old fancy dresses with lace and multiple pieces and all sorts of other things that Ruby loathed the idea of seeing in any of her clothing. At least the range of colors was low with how the castle looked overall. Except for her.

“There are rules about guests,” the Beast clarified, shrugging, “I didn’t write them.”

Ruby sighed, closing the closet doors and turning back towards the entrance, exploration finished, “Do I ever get to see these rules?”

“They’re up in the central tower.” The Beast shrugged, “You just have to trust me.”

Trust her. Right. Did Ruby trust the Beast? The Beast who had, not ten minutes before, attacked and tried to kill Yang? It was certainly easier to trust the person who she was going to be spending the rest of her life with, should Yang fail to return or to save her when she did. Easier, yes, but probably not wiser. All the Beast had done to indicate that maybe she deserved any of Ruby’s trust so far was not kill her, and not killing someone was hardly an effective basis for trust or respect, bestial nature or no. But she supposed that, though her best judgment cried out for her to do otherwise, she at least did not fully _dis_ trust the Beast. She had given Ruby a nice bedroom in a big castle instead of a cell in the dungeon, so that was already something working out better than expected.

“Are… you done standing around staring into space there?” The Beast had taken a step back from the door, gesturing out into the hallway beyond, “There’s still a lot of castle left to show you.”

“Right.” Ruby replied, gathering her wits back about her from where they had seemingly fallen away, “More castle.”

The Beast guided Ruby through hallway after hallway, room after room, Ruby only vaguely aware what room connected to what hallway after a while and not which corridors were connected. The castle had two stories, along with a strangely empty basement and, below that, through a metal trapdoor, a dungeon underneath. The castle held all sorts of rooms that befitted a castle, though the Beast did not personally take Ruby into each or even say into what room every door led. A massive ballroom covered floor to ceiling in cloth tarps, a kitchen that was surprisingly empty for the amount of food Ruby had seen on the table, a room that was just full of free-standing unmarked empty barrels… the castle was massive, corridors winding everywhere.

Eventually, though, the thunderous clanging of a clock somewhere rang out through the halls once, twice, three times, and the Beast stopped dead in her tracks. Ruby having not exactly been fully paying attention to where she was walking, managed to stop herself mere inches from bumping into her. “You okay?”

“I am.” the Beast frowned, looking around the hallway, “The clock chimes every three hours. Next one is dinnertime. I have to… do something. Can’t say.”

“Rules?” A small smile emerged on Ruby’s face, fonder than it probably should have been.

The Beast nodded, “Rules. Feel free to walk around, though. Plenty more castle to look at. The door outside is out in the back near the statue room if you want to go walk around the castle grounds, otherwise just… explore wherever, I guess.”

“I’m gonna be here for a while. Might as well get used to the place.” Ruby concurred, nodding. Not that it was ideal, again, but now was about the time to stop feeling sorry for herself about being here.

The Beast turned and left after a small nod, and Ruby was left alone with her thoughts and a labyrinth of hallways to walk down and around. She thought of home, of the people of Patch she would never see again and had never really thought about how much she would miss facing the likelihood of never seeing them again. The baker who made the best cookies since her mom’s, the tailor who kept insisting that she wear something other than a cape around even though he knew Ruby would probably never listen, even Cardin and his gang of – no, actually, Ruby would not miss them at all. She was honestly thrilled to be away from them, at least.

But then there was her father, who would as soon as Yang arrived learn that he might never again see the daughter he had spent so long trying to keep safe, Yang herself and Weiss too, who had been talking about having a kid at some point in the next few years – Ruby could be an aunt and the kid would never know about her except for Yang’s stories. Aunt Ruby would be as distant a concept as any of Yang’s travels she had recounted, to Atlas or to Vacuo across land and seas. And the whole time she herself would just be here. In the hallways of an ancient castle wandering with only an admittedly more pleasant than expected Beast for company. She was not sad for herself, really, but there was still plenty to be sad about. Or at least to miss.

The curious thing about moving through the castle, she noted eventually, was that as she wandered the hallways Ruby kept winding up places she had been thinking of, even though she had lost track of what hallways led to which doors while the Beast had been guiding her around. So when she thought about the statue room so as to find the outside, suddenly down an ivy-covered hallway with holes leading assumingly outside there was a room full of marble statues.

Or at least it had been full of marble statues at one point. Most of them were shattered, or worn down into blank slates, though all had been clearly humanoid at least once. There might have been one or two intact off in a corner, but that was not Ruby’s priority. Getting outside, or at least seeing what there was outside, remained her priority.

When she opened the door to look outside, Ruby saw three things. A field, which was fairly nondescript apart from a stone path that ran through it, a pretty lake that lay beyond with the stone path circling it, and between her and the field a graveyard. There were about twenty or so graves, the headstones carved in different styles, though Ruby could not clearly see what was engraved on any of them from where she was. That said, seeing a graveyard sort of killed (as it were) her motivation to go outside that particular day. Maybe later.

Okay, so she could head to her room and… read the book she had taken along. That was probably the saddest _thing_ to lose, she thought as she started walking back through the halls, to no longer have access to any books. Were there only, she thought to herself, some kind of library within the castle!

No sooner had she thought that than she turned a corner into a hallway the Beast had distinctly not taken her down, the walls old and wallpaper shredded by claw marks. Ruby ran her hand along one, tracing the sharp groove in the wood and flicking the peeled dry wallpaper. The claw marks ran down the hall, sometimes skipping as new marks were started but always going, all leading to one set of double-doors covered in thick scratches from top to bottom. It looked as though some kind of monster had tried to get in.

_Or some kind of Beast_.

Ruby carefully willed the door to open, and it slowly creaked to life as though the castle itself were reluctant to allow her in. But it did relent, and Ruby stepped into the dark room beyond, door slamming shut behind her.

A moment passed before the room woke, candle after candle lighting up staircases and across tables until the chain of lights reached the ceiling and ignited all around a chandelier hanging from the middle of the room. It took Ruby a moment to tear her attention away from the many flickering lights, but eventually she saw just what kind of room this was, and she found herself gasping out loud. The walls and the tables were covered in books, shelves of them rising up on all sides and stacks of them taking up space on the tables. Off to one side near the tables a few damaged books had been tossed aside onto the ground, but before Ruby could investigate further invisible hands tucked them away under a shelf and out of sight. But that mattered little.

_Ruby was in a library, and it was all hers_. The idea of living here was already a little more palatable.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Beast strode nearly endlessly up the spiral staircase to the top of the central tower, reflected in the mirror that ran around the walls as she went. Her face was caught in a frown, stride purposeful and fingers curled as close to fists as they could still go at her sides.

Eventually, some trick in her reflection caused it to rise an inch or two above the stairs, then some kind of magic caused it to turn towards her, floating along as she went, expression far more relaxed. “That shouldn’t have worked, you know. What she did.”

“She’s a rose, it was a rose the other one stole. Makes as much sense than anything else here.”

The reflection chuckled, “The sister should have been the one who stayed. You and I both know that.”

“Hey, it worked. Maybe you shouldn’t have let two people in.” The Beast kept walking, not even bothering to address the reflection with more than a sidelong glance, “But now I have a captive. Happy?”

“Are you?”

The Beast stopped her ascent for a moment, giving the matter some thought, before she answered.


	3. Knowledge gained

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yang returns home, the Beast starts to reveal some things about the castle, and Ruby eats.

Yang returned home as the sun began to sink behind the forest, knuckles scabbed over from wounds opened in angry blows against tree trunks on her way. The chill of late summer night’s approach crept in sideways, and she could feel it twist cold in her gut coiling serpentine. She wondered if the loss of Ruby had left some physical wound in her, the grief so strong it physically tore into her flesh. But there was nothing when she looked down. She walked as if in a trance, clutching tight onto the rose in one hand and gazing out across Patch, towards the field, anywhere but that rose, with distant eyes.

_Ruby was gone._

Step by wooden step she strode off the path, wandering into the field where Ruby spent her days - _had_ spent them, anyway. Where she would spend them again as soon as she was back. And she would be back, even if Yang had to burn down the whole forest to find her. There was only one incredibly slight issue that stood in her way: Yang had no idea how to get back to the castle where that monster lived.

The second Yang had left, passing back into the fog of the woods, a sickening spin had engulfed her, upturning her stomach and forcing her to take a knee. By the time she had stood, managed to wrench her eyes open, she stood by the side of the path as though nothing had happened, right by the mile marker. Sunlight filtered here and there between the trees, and it seemed for all the world that nothing had happened at all. Except for the rose in her hand and the ache in her shoulder. And, somewhere, the knowledge that when she returned home Ruby would not.

The pile of library books sat exactly where Ruby had told her they would be, and Yang picked them up gingerly as though they might fall apart at her touch. All the fairy tales and legends that had gotten it into Ruby’s head to do something as foolish as… ugh. She could not even be properly mad at what Ruby had done. It was foolish, but it was foolish in the exact way that spoke incredibly well of her character. God forbid Ruby Rose be foolish in any other way.

Yang trudged through town with the books, ignoring the greetings shouted to her from seemingly every direction – she appreciated how friendly the people of Patch were most any other day, but did they really have to be so cheerful in her direction today?

The streets of the village seemed to wind endless for how small Patch was until Yang arrived finally at the library. The town could simply not afford a library separate from the school, so attached to Signal it remained. Patch was small, but the ready access to wilderness left it a prime location for study, hence the surprisingly prestigious Signal Academy and its surprisingly voluminous research library. The books Ruby checked out time and time again came from the small civilian section of the library, and Yang knew for a fact that the library staff had offered to let her keep one or two over the years. Ruby always said no.

_”What if someone else wants to check them out? I’m not gonna do that to them.”_

The number of townsfolk who regularly checked out books from the Signal Academy Research Library, by the way, Yang knew for a fact she could count on one hand.

The door into the library was tall and thick, with gleaming copper handles. How many times had Ruby come through here? She pulled them open and strode in, books tucked under her arm.

Rather than keep on a permanent librarian like they used to, the research library was staffed by a rotating selection of professors both resident and visiting in exchange for unfettered access to materials past closing. There was a waiting list for the job right next to the box of complaints about how poorly the library was managed. Today, some green-haired man Yang did not recognize was speeding around behind the desk, arranging books and occasionally taking exceptionally fast notes between long sips of something Yang seriously doubted was _just_ coffee.

He turned his attention towards her in what was probably “after a great long while” at his speed, but luckily at Yang’s was not long at all. “Can I help you?”

“I’m returning these books.” Yang set them down on the counter slightly harder than anticipated, the THUD echoing through the stacks, “For Ruby Rose. And I want to make sure these are all the books she checked out.”

“For her? I’m not sure you can- hold on a moment.” The man ducked under the desk and pulled out the very old book on library policies given to the volunteer workers, flipping through the pages at a manic pace, “Da da da da, in case of death, no, that’s not right, at least I hope that’s not right… Ah! Are you… a blood relation? Or spouse, I suppose spouse works too.”

“I’m her sister.” Yang clenched the rose tighter in her hand as a reminder.

“Name, please.” He took another pull from the beverage in his hand before turning to pull some dusty old ledger from the wall, “I’m going to have to do this the profoundly old-fashioned way, apparently. Kind of exciting, don’t you think?”

“Not really.” Yang frowned, “And Yang Xiao Long. With an X.”

“At the end, or-“

“In the middle! Ex-eye-ay-oh.” Yang felt the heat of anger rising, “I was trying to make it _easier_ for you, you-!”

The man put a finger over his mouth, “Library, Miss Xiao Long with an X!” He sighed, “Anyway, according to the records this is all but one of the books your sister owes.”

“All but one- what’s missing?” Yang turned and sat on the counter, scooting towards the ledger to get a better look.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ruby sat in the castle library, noting just as she sat and felt the crunch of bending book spine that she still had the conveniently portable copy of _Faerie Tales and Other Folkish Stories_ tucked away in her back pocket. Oh dear. Well, now she definitely hoped Yang pulled through and got her out of here – the fines on that otherwise would not at all be pretty.

“I guess I forgot I took you. Sorry, guy.” She set it down on the table and looked around. Row after row of books, most of them looking a bit too old and too dusty to be the sort of thing she would pick up to read, but a wide as anything a selection. She would just have to figure out where the really good stuff was first, so that was where she set herself.

The collection was not even set up in a mostly sensible semi-organized way like the library back in Patch, but there at least seemed to be a distinct separation between the fiction and the nonfiction, the selection of the latter unfortunately dwarfing the former. Ruby crept through them, fingers dancing above leather spines. _C’mon, c’mon… fairy tales, fantasy books, whatever. Where are youuuu?_

While there were no fairy tales in the library, per se, there were a few old fantasy stories and, beside them, a conspicuous gap where she imagined a collection of fairy tale books might have once sat. Which was disappointing, yes, but not tragic. She had a pilfered collection of fairy tales with her already, it just would have been nice to see some new ones. And indeed as she searched the rest of the shelves, it seemed there were no other leads to be found. Lots of books about animals, a wide selection of murder mysteries, but no tales of the fairy variety.

A brief curious glance over the nonfiction section showed something curious, though – nearly all of them dealt with biology, anatomy, or history. A wide section that divided the fiction from the nonfiction contained many philosophies about morality and humanity and whatever else. Real deep shelves of the Signal Research Library stuff.

Which left… the unorganized stacks of books on the desks and tables across the library. Which would be heck to sort through, to be sure. She needed some other way to deal with them. If only they would just sort themselves!

No sooner had she though that than invisible hands began to pick up the books from the stacks, floating them across in a swirling vortex of paper and leather until, suddenly, they were all stacked neatly in piles on two different tables – one table coated in nonfiction, the other coated in the opposite. And her copy of _Faerie Tales and Other Folkish Stories_ untouched but, now that she looked at it properly, no longer possessed of color in the cover. So the color was something inherent to her as someone who had come in from outside? She would really have to ask the Beast about the greyscale of the castle at some point. Even though she suspected the answer would be some cryptic mention of “the rules.” The rules Ruby had no way to read, apparently.

Ruby walked between the tables, examining the books. The nonfiction books all seemed to be standard, aligning with the narrow subject matter of the existing books. The fiction books were mostly disappointing, except for one. _Night Falls on the Roses (And Other Stories)_. There was not much to separate it from the other books, sure, but the title strongly suggested it might at least somehow relate to the situation in the castle. It was at least worth looking into, right? Someone already had at some point, given the wear and tear on its cover.

Ruby flipped through the book, and she noted that it was full of fairy tales and folk stories she had never read before. Or at least she assumed they were from the given titles in the Table of Contents. Going through the stacks, though, apparently took longer than she had expected, though, and before she had gotten through the first story (titled “The Ten Fish,” curiously, and subpar at best as far as fairy tales went) the bell rang out for dinner, just as thunderous here as it had been in the hallway.

Well, she supposed, she _was_ kind of hungry after a day with only a piece of toast to eat.

Ruby walked out into the hallway and cleared her throat, doing her best to avoid looking at all the claw marks. It occurred to her just then that the Beast had never actually said where they should meet for dinner. That small table near the entryway? Surely that could not be it! That table had been too laden with food to consider it, unless perhaps it had been cleared of both food and the hand in the middle. Though she had to admit there was a certain appeal to the little guy. Were he only mobile!

“Okay, uh, castle. I know you sort of… take me wherever I want, but I need to make sure you get me to the right place here.” Ruby closed her eyes, taking steps down the hallway, “I need to get to dinner, okay? Wherever that is.”

Because the castle heard her or because she had walked so far through the halls as to loop around to where she had begun she could not say, but when her eyes opened the table in the entryway had indeed been cleared, and a place set. But only the one. The Beast stood behind it, having changed into a different, equally ridiculous costume coat that at least was not as ancient as the previous. She did look handsome, Ruby supposed, or might have without the monstrous cat face. Ah well.

“So, uh… where do I sit?” She asked, looking around.

“Here.” replied the Beast, gesturing in front of her, “I’m waiting to pull out your chair.”

“Man, those rules are really specific.” Ruby noted, crossing over to her.

The Beast chuckled as she situated Ruby in the seat, “This one isn’t the rules, this is just good manners. So still rules, I guess, but less magical, more…”

“Usual?”

“I was going to say ‘boring,’ but I guess that works, too.”

“Well, uh. Thanks.” Ruby smiled up at the Beast as two hands began to load food onto the plate in front of her. A sort of extraordinary amount of food, really, but even if this was the sort of fairy tale where she was being fattened up for some darker purpose Ruby supposed she had volunteered for it. And she _was_ pretty hungry, at least that day. So she could be suspicious later if it became a pattern.

“No problem.” The Beast stalked a quarter of the way around the table, then pulled up a chair for herself. She did not so much as look at the food, nor did the hands make any attempt to serve her.

Ruby started in on the chicken first, leaving the mashed potatoes for a little bit later and the peas for approximately never, “Okay, so. This is your castle.”

“It is.”

“Were you born here? Was your parents like this too?” Best to start seeing where she could get to, question-wise. Ruby took a bite of the potatoes as the Beast answered.

“I inherited it.” the Beast chuckled again, “And no, my parents did not look like I do now.”

A bite torn off of the leg. “Then you didn’t always look like that?”

“That’s not what I said.”

More potatoes, “You said ‘now,’ though.”

“Have you always looked like you do now?”

“I guess not, but…” Ruby sighed. She had hit a wall, probably. Better to change the subject now. “Whatever. So where is this castle, anyway?”

“ _That_ I don’t really know, but I can tell you what I was told.” The Beast cleared her throat, shifting into a clear impression of someone regal Ruby had never met, “This is the dark forest in your mind when you pass into the trees, the worst you can imagine the forest to be. Full of monsters and the feeling of broken bones, hair raised on your neck before you die.’”

“Well that’s… dark.”

“So was the guy who said it.” 

“I’ll take your word for it.” Ruby decided that a goblet of milk was too welcome a sight to question where it came from in this magical cow-less castle, “How long have you been all alone here?”

The Beast went quiet for a few moments, glancing over at the nearby dead fireplace, “Too long.”

“Well, you’re not alone anymore!” Ruby grinned, “I’m here. For, uh… a while, I guess.” A shrug and another sip of milk, “However long I live.”

“Right.” The edges of the Beast’s mouth curled up in the direction of a smile to a much lesser extent than Ruby had been hoping for, “It’ll be nice to have someone else around, won’t it?”

Ruby nodded, resolute. “Definitely. I know I’d go crazy without anyone around to talk to for more than… a month? Two months? I’ve never really thought about it.”

Another pause. “I think you’d last a little longer than that. You’re strong.”

“Huh?” Ruby blinked, bite of mashed potato hanging a mere inch from her mouth.

“You’re strong. Trust me, I know it when I see it.”

Ruby set the fork down and shook her hands in front of her, “No, no, trust _me_ , Yang’s the strong one. I just hang out and read.”

The Beast looked about to interrupt, but her ears flicked slightly at that last part and she was clearly distracted, “You do? What do you like to read?”

Ruby shrugged, “Fairy tales and old legends, mostly. I brought a book with me by accident if you want to borrow it sometime.”

“I’d l-“ the Beast started before sinking slightly with the weight of some realization, “It’s alright. Good that you like reading, though, that’s… that’s good.”

“Are you sure?” Ruby frowned, “I saw that your library here doesn’t have-“

“ _I’m sure_.” the Beast growled, and Ruby flinched back. 

_Note to self: Don’t mention the library again._

After a moment the Beast sat back and sighed, rubbing at her temples with her paws, “Sorry. Just one more question, okay? Then tomorrow I’m asking about you.”

Ruby had a hard time imagining what interesting things she might have to offer in return to the life of a Beast in a magical castle, but she supposed she could try. 

Yang was the one with the interesting stories, not her. Ruby had, what, the time she had fallen into a creek and broken her leg trying to cross it? But okay. A final question.

“Why is everything black and white in here?” She looked around at the greys of the room, “Is that just part of the castle? And why am I still fine?”

The Beast looked Ruby dead in the eye, clear even through the slits of the mask, “Listen, Ruby, this is important. That color means you don’t belong here. If you start fading, you come talk to me right away, okay?”

“What? I don’t understand.”

“You don’t need to. It… would take a long time to explain anyway. But I think your color will last a long time, so you shouldn’t have to worry.”

“How long did yours last?”

The Beast stood from the table, “Not long enough. I’m going to bed now. You probably should, too.”

Ruby shrunk in her seat, food nearly finished but her appetite now vanished. “O-Okay.”

The Beast turned away and walked quiet to the door, only turning her head back slightly as she paused before opening it, “Blake.”

“What?”

The Beast took off her mask for a moment with one hand, light grey too-human eye shining slightly in the candlelight, “You asked me my name earlier. It’s Blake.”

“Blake.” Ruby turned it over in her mouth, thoughtful. “I like it.”

“I’m glad.”

Ruby giggled, “No, you’re Blake, you just said.” Yang was hardly the only one in the family capable of terrible jokes.

Blake rolled her eyes and replaced her mask. “Goodnight, Ruby Rose.”

“Sweet dreams!” Ruby replied, but Blake was already through the door and gone. Ruby sighed, turning towards the hands in the table. “Blake. At least I don’t have to call her Beast anymore.”

The hands were, unsurprisingly, apathetic to her musings. One did, however, offer her a cookie, which Ruby gladly took.

By the time she reached her room that cookie as well as the platter of further cookies she had immediately requested were all gone, and Ruby was just about ready for bed. Almost. She slipped into the bathroom first for just a moment, willing the walls away from being reflective, and set her cloak down on a counter as the water started to fill the bath. Which, given the ludicrous size of the tub, she estimated as probably about to take a while.

So while she waited for the bath to fill, Ruby wandered back into the main bedroom, looking around from painting to painting (did the plant in the painting above her bed look a little bigger or was that just her?) until finally her gaze settled on the mirror.

There she stood, colored too in the reflection, Ruby Rose just as she had ever been. As she ever would be, really. “Well, what else would I look like? That weird old professor who got kicked out of the research library for telling loud stories?”

And just as she said that, the surface of the mirror rippled and that exact man appeared, in what must have been his study, in the middle of some story she could not hear through the glass of the mirror. But it was clear he could not see her, at least, so that was promising.

“Huh?” Ruby crept closer to the mirror, poking at it. Nope, still glass. “So you’ll show me whoever I want?”

An image of a piece of parchment somewhere rose on the mirror. It read “Yes.” Another sign that looked like it came from a library somewhere, “No noise please.”

“That’s amazing, I…” Ruby grinned, bouncing on the soles of her feet, the bath now forgotten near entirely, “Yang Xiao Long. I want to see Yang.”

The mirror misted over, and the scene changed to the living room of her father’s house in Patch…


	4. Excerpts and snippets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Moments from the first month.

_Once upon a time there was a garden, and in the garden grew every kind of plant that had ever grown elsewhere, all together. Herbs and flowers all together, weeds off to the side where they could not harm the other plants, and all the kinds of trees you can imagine bearing all the fruits of the world spread around the perimeter._

“It’s going to be alright, you know.” Weiss had already settled into bed by the time Yang entered, for once not otherwise occupied with pre-bed reading of some bizarre technical manuscript or another, “If anyone can kill that beast and get Ruby out of there it’s us.”

Yang’s hand reflexively shifted to the bandaged wound on her shoulder, memories of the fight flooding in, “Yeah. I know.” She tried to take off her jacket, then winced as scabs stirred below cloth.

“You don’t sound like you know.” Weiss was immediately out of bed and across the room to help, easing the remains of the jacket off slowly as Yang gritted teeth against it, “We’ll figure out a way back in, and we will take care of this.” She wound her way around to stand in front of Yang. “You’re good at saving people. Trust me, I would know.”

“Right.” Yang’s mouth, at least on one side, started to visibly at least consider rising into a smile, “I can do this.” Be a hero. Ruby needed her to be a hero, right? Do exciting hero things like… go research mysterious forest castles at the Signal Research Library. “I’m just worried.”

Weiss looked up from where she had been working on removing the rest of Yang’s clothes so as to save her the pain of stressing her injuries. Now, she reluctantly had to admit, was not the time for correction of that “I” to a “we.” “For Ruby?”

“Yeah, but… for dad, too.” Yang sighed, “You saw him when I got back. He didn’t exactly take the news well.” To say the least.

“No, he didn’t.” Weiss admitted, standing back up to finish clearing the clothing from the top half of Yang, “But he won’t have to worry for very long, will he?”

Yang shook her head, “No. No he won’t.”

But as they moved towards bed, a nagging thought wriggled in the back of Yang’s mind. The Beast had been able to overpower her so easily – she had to go try to save Ruby, obviously she did. She could never forgive herself if she did not at least try to save her. But… what if she lacked the strength necessary to win? What if the Beast killed her? And the last thing she saw would be Ruby’s face. Watching her die.

What if the smart move was to not go at all? To let Ruby have sacrificed herself for her and to try to move on, making the most of what she had in her sister’s absence?

Well, Yang had never exactly been one for the smart move.

_And you may not know this, but the plants could speak to each other as all plants can, in the way only plants can tell, and all the plants of the garden whispered happily to one another about all sorts of things: how happy they were to see each new day, how wonderful the soil tasted and how pleasant the water felt running against their roots, and how good it was that they were safe from being eaten. There was only one point of dissatisfaction in their minds – in the center of the garden, right at the spot where the best water was, and the most sunlight, and the richest soil, there was nothing but a bramble of thorns that had grown in over the winter._

“Hey, Blake, I was thinking about walking around the lake, you want to come?”

In retrospect, she probably should have expected Blake to decline. So, on her first morning in the castle, Ruby found herself alone creeping through the graveyard and walking across the field to the lake. Well, she assumed it was morning. The clouds above kept the sun away so effectively that she had no actual idea. It probably did not matter too much, as they were already nearing the end of the summer, but being able to enjoy the last few weeks of sunshine would have been nice. To hang out on the beach with Yang and Weiss, watch the sunset maybe… But there was no point dwelling on that now.

As far as lakes went, Ruby supposed, this one was alright. The water was surprisingly dark, mostly still, and held a reflection perfectly. _Yep, still red._ Not that she knew why she was still colored and nothing else inside was, or what Blake had meant when she seemed so worried about the idea of Ruby’s color fading. She just had to keep an eye on it, Ruby supposed. Strange thing to have to keep track of, but nothing about this place was normal anyway.

The place was unnaturally still, and it took a little while for Ruby to place exactly why – there were no animals or animal noises anywhere. No frogs, no wolves in the distance, not even bugs over the water. Nothing. Just a lot of forest in all directions except the direction leading back to the castle.

Right, the forest! Blake had not told her what would happen if she tried to go in, but had never told her not to. So it stood among the very few things, then, that Ruby could actually figure out for herself here. Like the library and the mirror!

So she wandered into the trees, strolling off the path only slightly afraid what she might run into. But if Blake had not forbade her from it…

Wow, that was a lot of trust she was placing in Blake. As the forest started to close in around her, why exactly did she think that? What reason did Blake actually have to want her alive? It only seemed to be an inconvenience for the Beast that Ruby was here at all, right?

The thought was interrupted by her suddenly passing through a curtain. A curtain composed of willow branches. And suddenly there was no more reason to keep walking because there was no more forest to keep walking through. Just a castle hallway full of hands holding candelabras. The entry hallway of the very castle she was trapped in. At least she could use this as a shortcut back into the castle instead of walking through the graveyard again, right?

_The bramble of thorns was young, and did not speak to the other plants, but it certainly heard them as they spoke so cruelly about its place in the garden. “It doesn’t deserve it,” they would say, “it has barely even been here, and look at it! All covered in thorns and winding in on itself. Who could love a plant like that, so devoid of the things we know make plants beautiful? Surely something beautiful should stand at the center of the garden.”_

Blake stared out at the lake through the castle’s single window atop of the central tower, eyes less cold in the reflection than they really should have been. The reflection that, of course, decided that moment to stir and raise its voice.

“She figured out what the mirror does.” The reflection noted, mouth twisted into a smirk. It leaned against the edge of the window, one brow raised, “She’s taking to the castle much faster than the last guest, isn’t she?”

A growl rose from Blake’s throat, “Maybe she is. Good for her.”

“But it isn’t good for her, is it?” The reflection moved to stare directly at Blake, “And are _you_ taking to her?” Mockery dripped from the words.

Blake sighed, “Give it more than a day.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“It’s my answer.”

The reflection sighed, “You know, you don’t have nearly as long as it seems like you do. Just saying, you might want to hurry.”

“I also know this isn’t something you rush.” Blake turned away from the window, paw-hands clenched as close to fists as she could manage at her sides, “But I’m going to figure this out.”

“And if you don’t?”

_The bramble of thorns, not knowing what kind of plant it was, knew not why any of the other plants mocked it so cruelly. “Why would they say things like that?” It would think, not daring to ask out loud for fear of how words traveled in the garden. “I do ever so dearly wish I knew.”_

“Alright, so you said tonight was your turn to ask me questions and stuff, right?” Ruby looked up at Blake from her soup, smiling.

Blake blinked behind the mask, “I did?” Maybe she had? But she had certainly not meant it seriously. Probably just an attempt to stem the flood of questions from Ruby, she figured, but an offer was an offer, right?

“Yep.” Ruby took a long swig of water, then grinned, “So go ahead and ask!”

“Okay, uh…” Blake frowned, focusing intently on one of the candles on the table. Ruby sure was excited about this, “What kind of questions should I ask?”

Ruby giggled, “I think you have to think of those, Blake. I thought of all the ones I asked you!”

Right. Okay, Blake thought, she could do this. Her ability to talk to people was not _that_ rusty, right? “So… you have a sister.” Nailed it.

“That’s not a question, but I do.” Ruby sipped her water again, “Yang’s my older sister. She’s been my best friend for my whole life, and since mom died she’s… really been the one who took care of me most. Even if she’s away a lot, and she’s married now.”

“Married?” The castle really was bad at picking people to let in, huh?

Ruby nodded, “Yep. She came home from a trip to Atlas and it turned out she had a wife with her. Who knew, right? But Weiss turned out to be pretty cool, once she got used to living here with us. We’re really good friends.”

“Really good friends, huh?” Blake smiled, “Must have been hard for her to adjust.”

Ruby nodded, “Yeah, but she did eventually. And she likes it better than where she used to live back in Atlas with her spooky evil dad or whatever. Weiss doesn’t talk about it much, but she’s still an awesome… second sister, I guess, technically.”

“That’s nice.” Blake smiled dimly at the brightness of the candle, “To have people like that.”

“You don’t-“ Ruby started, then cut herself off, “You should probably get to the next question, huh? Maybe ask about Patch? If you still don’t know what to ask about.”

Oh how Blake wished the next question could be asking whether or not they could someday be friends. Actual friends, not kidnapper and voluntary kidnapee. But instead she followed with “So what’s Patch like?”

_But there was another plant in the garden willing to speak directly to the bramble – a small plant with beautiful berries. It whispered to the bramble one night, in a tone so quiet the bramble nearly did not hear it. “Why do they say such terrible things about you?”_

Two weeks of research later, Yang collapsed forward onto an unfortunate old map. There were no records in the village of there ever having been a castle in the woods, or even the remains of one, or even a discussion about perhaps building one. The island had never been home to anyone of nearly noble enough birth for a castle to be commissioned. 

Yang had come to the library every day since coming back to Patch, but still she had found nothing. Her mornings were spent staring blankly at far-from-blank parchment, and her afternoons were spent wandering the wood hoping to somehow just stumble back upon the way to the castle. As if that was the sort of thing that just happened, right?

“Ugh, this is hopeless.”

“Hopeless?” Oh no, that Oobleck guy was behind her, “What exactly are you researching, Miss Xiao-Long-with-an-X?”

“None of your business.” Yang snapped, head swinging back around to fix him with a glare, “You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you.”

“Over the course of the last two weeks you have looked through nearly every map or survey of the island – I should know, I’ve been putting them away for you – which indicates to me you might be looking for something in particular on the island.” He coughed, adjusting his disheveled clothing into a different combination of disheveled wrinkles, “And judging from the architectural histories you have been eyeing and saying every day you will tackle tomorrow, I suspect that is your focus.”

Yang sighed, eyes, shut tight, “Yeah, so what?”

“ _So_ I think it might be wise to, in a building full of experts on the history of this island, perhaps consider consulting someone.”

“I don’t need _help_ , okay? I’m fine. Things are fine, I’m going to figure this out.”

Oobleck sighed, “Not a moment ago you were quite literally declaring your search hopeless, if you will recall.”

Reluctant point to the coffee-fuelled scarecrow. “Okay, so, there’s no way you’re going to believe this since you’re all sciencey or whatever, but…”

_”They say I do not deserve to stand here at the center of the garden because I am so ugly.” The bramble whispered back, “I dare not say anything to them, but… they would know better than me what I am, wouldn’t they?”_

Blake’s study was at the top of the central tower, certainly, but she was never really alone there. Until recently the dining room had been a perfectly serviceable refuge from her reflection, but now all she really had was the courtyard garden. Ruby was not fond of walking through it, at least not while Blake was around, and so it was as she supposed it always had been an effective backup refuge.

Another rose had fallen off the bush. Ruby had been there for a month now, and time marched ever onwards as always. From the start Ruby had been cordial, even friendly, but… how much of that was born from fear of her situation? Being captive in the castle was no doubt hard on her, even if she did not say anything.

But what did she think of Ruby? She was brave, yes, that had been Blake’s very first impression of her from their first meeting. And Blake supposed, albeit begrudgingly, that Ruby was attractive. And kind. And good company, even if Blake was not sure she herself was. So much of their conversations was just asking and answering (or avoiding answering, in Blake’s case) questions.

She wished she could tell Ruby more about the castle. Or about the curse, or any of the other things she could not reveal. And she wished she had the courage to tell Ruby about any of the things about herself she technically could tell her, but, unfortunately, getting comfortable around other people had never been Blake’s strong suit, even before the curse. Really, it was a big factor in why she had been cursed in the first place, right?

But more than anything, she wished she could warn Ruby about what was likely to happen.

_”How terrible!” The other plant cried, berries rising like hackles in indignation, “How could they say something like that? You seem so lovely!” The bramble wondered – was it lovely? What did that mean, to be lovely? Did it mean to have flowers or berries? Or did it mean to not have thorns?_

_It would have to take some time to think about it._

Then it was the last day of- September Twenty-First. And Ruby was trapped in the castle. It had never hurt to be kept here, not in this way, but… this was a day she had always spent with Yang. A day that had always ended with Yang, too. It was the last really good sunset of the year, and she and Yang had always…

No, wait, there was a way she could spend it with Yang! Or at least sort of spend it with her. Ruby spent the whole of the day nervously pacing, then devoured her dinner with a fervor usually reserved for the starving.

Blake blinked as Ruby stood up from the table, “Done already?”

“Yep!” Ruby sighed, “Sorry, kind of in a hurry to do something. We can talk a bunch more at dinner tomorrow, okay?”

Blake smiled, won over by the sheer volume of Ruby’s enthusiasm towards whatever it was she was doing, “Alright, sure. See you tomorrow.”

“Night, Blake!” 

It was only a quick sprint down the hallways to her room. Running speed had been one of the few things she was genuinely proud of, physically. Ruby could run very fast, even if she had never really had anywhere in particular to run to or from in the Patch town limits.

Ruby almost crashed into the mirror with the force behind her crossing the bedroom. Deep breaths, calm, center herself- ah, to heck with that. “Mirror, mirror, uh… I can’t think of anything that rhymes or sounds cool, show me the hill outside of Patch. The one I’m thinking of right now.”

Despite how overcast it always seemed to be at the castle, the sun hung low in a clear sky over Patch through the window of the mirror. The grass and leaves were yellowing out towards brown, and Ruby would almost feel the first breeze of autumn on her face. She and Yang would, any other year, have wrapped themselves up tight in coats and made their way here to sit together and talk. They would talk for hours some years, or just briefly some others, before silence lowered along with the sun.

It was the end of summer. The cold months were ahead, along with school and things like that. Yang made sure every year to be home for their personal… was it a holiday, if it was just the two of them? Day. Important day. An important day for a lot of reasons.

And sure enough, through the mirror Ruby could see Yang. Alone. Sitting in the grass and looking out towards the setting sun. She could only imagine how Yang felt, out there thinking she was alone. After all, a magic mirror that let Ruby watch whatever she wanted had not been advertised when Ruby agreed to stay behind.

It took a moment for Ruby to realize it, but… as the sun started to set, Yang was crying. Ruby could count on one hand the number of times she had seen Yang cry. She reached a hand up and placed it against the mirror, but there was no warmth there. Only the cold of glass.

Ruby swallowed hard, hand slowly sliding down the mirror. “You know what? Never mind. I’ll see it next year, right?”

The mirror clicked off before the sun had fully set, and Ruby spent a long time crying afterwards. Meanwhile, outside the door, Blake wished she knew something to say. Anything. But all she knew was that the sound of Ruby crying hurt some deep part of her, and she was a little scared how much she wanted to make sure Ruby got to see whatever it was the next year.


	5. Cooling off

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Masks are removed, as is a jacket.

Fall started off meandering, the castle and the surrounding grounds cooling off day by day. Every day Ruby hoped Yang would come, but every day she found herself more resigned to the idea that she would not. If it was easy to get to the castle, far more people would have done it, right? At the very least some of the researchers in residence at Signal. From the way her father talked about them, something like this would have stirred them up into a race to publish as many papers on the place as possible years ago.

But also, the more time passed, the less Ruby found she even wanted to leave. At the very least being here allowed her to get to know Blake better, and that was certainly appealing. Ruby had never really had a friend before, or anything particularly close outside of her sister and Weiss. Which had always been fine for her, after all she had always been content between Yang and books and weird life lessons from her uncle sometimes, but since meeting Blake and getting to know her better, Ruby found that she was actually enjoying herself here. There was not much to do during the days, but there had not been much to do during the days back in Patch, either. The biggest obstacle was the lack of people, but every night at dinner she got to talk to Blake. Their conversations shifted from series of questions to actual conversations over time, though never really much about Blake or where she came from. 

Ruby more wanted Yang to come and get her, really, for Yang’s sake. When she looked in the mirror at night it always seemed to be just at the right moments to see Yang at points of sadness or distress. She wondered if there was anything else Yang was feeling back home, after a while.

The castle and the grounds around her changed as the season did, but of course not in the same way that Patch would. The trees greyed rather than browned, more sickly than the usual beauty of autumn. A chill entered the air, and permeated the halls of the castle itself. None of the fireplaces seemed to work, and the cold increased until Ruby found herself shivering slightly as she traveled from room to room. The closet in her room held all number and manner of clothing, but somehow nothing suited to the weather. Summer or winter clothing, nothing in-between.

One plant, however, survived the onset of autumn stronger than any other – the rose bush in the castle courtyard. Ruby walked out to see Blake tending to it one day, paws carefully manipulating claws to trim stems in the way she had clearly spent a great amount of time mastering.

“So… the roses are magical.” Ruby guessed, arms wrapped tight around herself and trying not to shiver. Her cloak was, naturally, in the wash, and the invisible servants of the castle were not exactly forthcoming with things like when the laundry would be done.

Blake nodded, “All but one.”

“All but…” Ruby frowned, then came to a realization and sighed, “Ha ha.”

A beastly smirk emerged on Blake’s face, “You made the comparison first. But yes. You can see why I was upset when your sister took one.”

“I guess, but… there’s a bunch of them. Is one really that important?” One hand strayed to the back of Ruby’s head to scratch in confusion.

Blake stood, “Can I trust you, Ruby?”

“S-Sure.” Had it suddenly gotten colder in the courtyard?

One hand rose and removed Blake’s mask, a sign Ruby had come to know meant whatever Blake was about to say was important, “When there are no more roses on this bush, I’ll… I’ll die.”

“’Wh-When’?” Definitely colder. Ruby was shivering now.

There was a vulnerability to Blake’s voice that Ruby had not heard in it since arriving. It was… this must have been fear. “I can’t say much more than that, but… just let me worry about it, okay? It’s not your problem.”

“Blake, I live here now!” Ruby’s voice was louder than intended, though it still shook in the cold, “You – You need to be able to tell me things, okay? Please. I want to know.”

After a pensive pause, Blake rested a hand on Ruby’s shoulder, “I want to tell you. I need you to know that I want to tell you everything. But there’s only so much I can.”

Ruby frowned, averting her eyes, “I d-don’t remember the last game I played where not everyone got to read the rules first.”

“This… isn’t a fair game, Ruby.” Blake tucked the mask away in her jacket pocket, “And I’m sorry you ended up playing it.”

“I…” Ruby swallowed, the chill suddenly taking the breath from her.

Blake noticed, clearly, and sighed, “Take my jacket off.”

“Wh-What?” Ruby slightly loosened her grip on her own shoulders, blinking in surprise.

“I can’t take it off.” Blake wiggled her sort-of-fingers and gestured to the involved buttons down the front, “And you look like you could use a jacket.”

Ruby swallowed again, but stepped forward despite her concern, “If you’re sure.”

“That’s why I offered.”

She stepped close to Blake to remove the jacket, probably closer than she really needed to, and the first thing she noticed was that Blake was warm. Really warm. Warm enough it radiated off of her, and Ruby contemplated just standing close in that warmth for a moment before remembering that she was actually supposed to be doing something slightly less embarrassing.

Once she had removed the coat, arms lingering for just a moment too long around Blake to the point where the beast audibly cleared her throat, Ruby wrapped it around her shoulders. The relief was almost instant, the thick old canvas already warm and, Ruby found herself noting, kept Blake’s scent about it. But it was clearly old, worn down and out, and while it certainly had held up well Ruby was honestly amazed it held together at all.

“Better?” Blake asked, adjusting the sleeves of the shirt beneath, which had gotten bunched up in Ruby’s removal of the jacket.

Ruby nodded, “Yeah. Way better.”

That night at dinner, Ruby found as she dug into her bread that Blake still had not asked for the coat back, nor had she replaced it with another. She merely sat, mask still missing, in pants and loose shirt.

“So… you _do_ have other clothes, right? I’m not taking your only jacket?” She certainly appreciated the coat, especially given how for some reason the fireplace in the dining room refused to light even in the greater chill of the evening, but…

Blake shook her head. I’ve only ever needed this outfit.”

“You should take this back, then!” Ruby started to hastily pull her arm from one sleeve of the jacket, but Blake reached across to place one hand on hers.

“I’m covered in fur, Ruby. Maybe you didn’t notice.” A smirk, “I’m doing just fine here, trust me.”

A pause, and then Ruby nodded. “Right.” After a second of struggle to get her arm back into the sleeve of the coat, she returned to the meal before her. “Does… the castle get any warmer? Ever?”

“Well, spring and summer will come along eventually,” Blake shrugged, “But otherwise it’s a castle built for a girl covered in fur. It doesn’t really need to get warmer, does it?”

“So I should just… wear the jacket or my cloak all the time?” Ruby frowned, “I _am_ the guest here. The castle does everything else.”

Blake chuckled, “It’s just not cold enough yet, Ruby. Don’t worry.”

“Okay. Is… there a way for me to light a fire in here? I mean, there’s a fireplace right over there.” She gestured to the grand one nearby, casually taking another bite of bread. She was content with the coat for now, she supposed, but if it got way colder at some point it would be useful.

Blake shook her head, “Not in that one. But you could probably get some wood off the tree branches for one of the other fireplaces if you really needed to.”

“Why not that one?”

“It was used for something different, and it’s done now.”

“Like what? A secret passage or something?” Ruby had not really thought too much about the possibility of secret passages in the castle. Not that the magical way the hallways worked meant there would be much use for one, but the possibility was still interesting.

“Not exactly,” Blake frowned, “There was a fire at one point, but it’s dead now. I’m not sure it would light again if you tried.”

“Oh.” Ruby sighed, “Does this room just stay cold, then?”

“The food gets warmer.” Blake assured her. “Lots of stew.”

“Where… does the food come from, anyway?”

“Magic.”

“Magic?” Ruby raised an eyebrow. So she was drinking magic milk and eating magic bread and cheese? That seemed like a less than ambitious use of the great and terrible power of magic. But hey, everything else here ran on it, including the hallways themselves.

“Magic, yep.” Blake laughed, full on laughed, “Don’t worry, Ruby. Most of the stuff here just sort of happens.”

“I guess so.” Ruby took her last bite of dinner, and mixed it with the last sip of her milk, then wiped her mouth and smiled, “And now it’s magically gone!”

“Wow, incredible.” A smile with no sign of leaving anytime soon quirked at the edge of Blake’s lips as she watched, settled more into her chair than Ruby had ever seen her at dinner.

Ruby beamed at her, “So, that’s that.” But as she moved to stand up, Ruby failed to feel a shift in the pocket of the jacket until it was too late. And she did not remember that Blake’s mask was made of ceramic until it had fallen to the ground beside her, and Ruby could only stare as it cracked cleanly into five or six separate pieces.

Blake had clearly noticed, too, and her relaxed position in the chair vanished as she moved forward.

“Blake, I…” Ruby started to say, but Blake jerked a hand up to stop her.

“Don’t.” She insisted, stepping forward to reach down and start to gather the pieces up, face pointedly kept directed away from Ruby’s, “I’ll deal with it. Just… go, okay?”

“But-“

“ **Go.** ” Blake repeated, growl adding a dark resonance to her voice, glaring with exposed eyes and bared fangs directly at Ruby.

Ruby nodded, and did as she was told, nearly running back to her room and sitting on her bed, legs tucked into her chest. “Stupid…” she grumbled to herself, finding her hands gripping into the coat of all things for comfort. It was so easy to forget that Blake was a Beast, especially with the mask off and her incredibly human eyes exposed, but a Beast she was and a Beast she had been since Ruby had arrived. Just one that Ruby trusted not to tear her throat out.

Or at least one that she _had_ trusted.

No, no, that was being unfair to Blake. Whatever her history with that mask was, it had clearly been important to her. And if Blake had actually blamed Ruby for it, actually felt ill intent towards her, Ruby knew from what she had seen of her temper that it would have been made perfectly clear. This was not a reason to distrust Blake, it was just a reminder to be wary. Like her mom had always said to be around wild animals. Ruby just maybe did not know exactly how much of Blake was animal and how much of her was person quite as well as she thought she had.

She wanted to trust Blake, that much was clear. Even in just the way she found herself clinging to the jacket Ruby knew that she held no ill will against her captor. No, not captor. Not really. Friend. Friend who happened to have technically kidnapped her, but… friend.

Right?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Stupid…” Blake muttered, punching herself in the arm as she stared at Ruby’s door. The mask was important, of course it was, but nowhere near as important as keeping her relationship with Ruby intact. For both their sakes.

_Just knock on the door._

_What if that makes it worse?_

_You need to reach out to her! Just do it! Do you want her to start seeing you like you saw him?_

Slowly, the tendons of her forearm strained tight against the cloth of the shirt, Blake reached out towards the door. One, two, three…

“Blake?” The door muffled the voice, but even so she could tell it was weak. Small. She had gotten disturbingly good at noticing those traits since she ended up in her current state.

“Yeah. Do you mind if I come in?” The reflection would be able to see her, but at this point that hardly mattered.

The silence was not an objection, probably. Blake chanced a turn of the doorknob and a step into the room, keeping her distance from the bed where Ruby had curled up, sticking to the shadows around the doorframe. To make sure Ruby felt safe, but also because… well, she was scared. Of what Ruby might say, and of herself.

“I’m…” Blake swallowed. She was sorry, sure, but she was so much more than that. The emotions filled her chest near to bursting under her fur, heavy in the emptiness the curse had left at her core.

Blake had not taken Ruby for a particularly fast sprinter, for some reason, but before she knew what was happening Ruby’s small arms had cast themselves tight around her, the rest of her so-small frame crashing against Blake in the impact. Ruby must have _thrown_ herself somehow, and for the first time ever Blake was actually thankful for the volume and density of her monstrous form, as before this the air would have been knocked squarely out of her. “I’m sorry.”

“I know.”

The words were so small, so simple, but so quick on the heels of the gesture they collided with her like bricks. Blake quietly wrapped her arms around Ruby, trying to encompass as much of the smaller girl as she could. And like that they stayed for several moments – arms around each other, eyes closed, the uncanny silence of the castle a measure more bearable, less oppressive.

“Can you fix it?” Ruby asked, sending Blake’s eyes open in confusion.

“Fix what?”

“The mask.”

It was honestly doable, Blake guessed. Especially with how keen the castle was to carry the scars of her past and preserve mementos of her failure, it might even fix it for her wholesale. But…

“Totally busted.” Blake smirked, “Guess we just have to look each other in the eye now. Sorry.”

“Well hey, at least our eyes match!” Ruby offered.

As Blake looked up and her gaze passed over the mirror, though, she could have sworn for a second that they did not, “I guess they do.” At least one part of them did, right?

Her reflection smirked at her, arms squeezing tighter in on Ruby’s. Blake just closed her eyes and held Ruby tighter, making sure the pressure lacked any semblance of the cruelty in the mirror. It had been a long time since she ignored her reflection, but she was willing to do it now. No matter what she felt about Ruby, she would make sure to keep it away from her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Blake… you’re squeezing me a little too tight. Li’l bit.” Okay, it was more than a little bit, but now was not a time for making Blake feel guilty. Mostly it was a time for appreciating how much better she felt, and how much better she imagined Blake must have felt in return.

A moment’s consideration, and Blake loosened her grip, clearing her throat quietly as she unwound her arms from Ruby and stepped back, “Right. Uh… sorry.”

Ruby smiled up at her, “No problem! You give really great hugs, by the way.”

“Oh, uh… thanks?” Blake looked down at herself, “I guess it makes sense, with the whole fur coat thing.”

“Nah, it’s not just that.” Ruby beamed, “But you’re welcome! Your fur is really soft. Is that weird? That’s probably weird to say, huh?”

“No, it’s, uh…” Blake suddenly looked around the room, intently focused on things that were not Ruby or the mirror, “You should probably get to bed, right? It’s late.”

Right. Sleep. Just casually sleeping through this weird newfound urge to curl up in bed with a giant stuffed animal that was completely not indicative of any strange new feelings whatsoever. “Yeah! And you should get back to… not sleeping. Since that’s what you do at night.”

“I’m good at not sleeping, yep.” Blake set a hand on Ruby’s shoulder, paused, made a strange confused and strained expression, then turned to leave, “Sleep tight.”

“Have fun!”

Then Blake was gone, and Ruby was left alone to try to gather her thoughts. At least it had gone well? She still had Blake’s jacket, which probably meant she would have it for a while if she wanted, and Blake herself was no longer angry at her. In fact, it seemed to be quite the opposite. Whatever that meant.

Ruby would worry about it in the morning.

After the exchange that evening, things went back to normal in the castle for the next few weeks. It took a while to realize, but eventually the conversations she saw when looking at home through the mirror reminded her (or at least the décor of the rooms she looked at through the mirror reminded her) that winter was approaching. And as winter approached, drawing ever closer like a single meandering snowflake, she became more and more acutely aware that a particular holiday approached as well.

_Christmas_.

Blake seemed to have no active interest in Christmas, or if she did she said nothing on the topic. Not that there was much either of them could get the other in the way of presents in the magic castle that took care of all of their needs, but surely there was something. Even if Blake had nothing to give her back in return. By the time Christmas actually rolled around it would have been almost half a year since Ruby arrived at the castle, she was perfectly fine giving Blake something in the spirit of the holiday.

It took a while, but eventually she managed to settle on something. She had never done it before, but if Yang could figure out how to do it she could too.

She was going to sew Blake a dress.

It was born mostly of necessity, if she was being honest – there was nothing else, and she only knew for sure what Blake’s jacket size was. After all, Blake had never actually reclaimed her coat from Ruby after handing it over. So all she had to do was learn how to sew, learn how to put the fabric together into a dress, and then somehow scavenge the requisite supply of cloth from the castle. A curtain here, the cushion cover of a chair there… Ruby grabbed what she could where she could get it, and gathered up all the materials in the library where Blake did not go.

She had cloth, she managed to find a few sewing needles around the place, and thread… she could figure out the thread eventually. The closest thing in the library to a book instructing the reader how to sew was a few assorted sections on wound dressing and treatment in some of the medical textbooks.

This was going to be easy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that break between chapters took a little longer than expected. The next break shouldn't be as long! Probably.


End file.
